BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Even in defeat, Michigan coach John Beilein was still pumped up Saturday night as he walked through Assembly Hall. The echoes of a boisterous Indiana crowd still reverberating off the walls. The passions of a hard-fought battle between two of the three top-ranked teams in the country still raw.

"Why would you want to leave this?" Beilein asked, gesturing toward the now-empty arena seats. "You have all these freshmen in a hurry to leave. College basketball environments don't get any better than what you saw out there tonight with the crowd into it all night, the emotion, both teams playing hard and the stakes involved. How can you not want to embrace something like this?"

But Beilein knows that as much as he cautions everyone about the inevitable inconsistencies of his "young, young team," he understands that young players must mature much faster in a modern college basketball world in which sophomores are often the new graybeards. Everybody's in a rush to get to the NBA -- even if the player is not ready -- that it has dramatically accelerated the production clock for teams.

Youth no longer is a justifiable excuse if you envision Final Fours. Michigan needs to grow up -- and quickly -- if it truly believes its 20-2 start is indicative of a team that should be taken seriously in the NCAA tournament. Trey Burke can't allow himself to get as easily frustrated as it appeared in the Wolverines' 81-73 loss to the Hoosiers, bothered that nobody else was willing to step forward and assert himself. As a result, he became more selfish offensively.

Freshman Glenn Robinson III shriveled up under Indiana's designated game plan to physically pressure him defensively. He looked like he didn't even want to try to get into the offensive flow. He didn't score his first basket until the final minute when the outcome pretty much was determined.

The word is out on the Wolverines. They're explosive when allowed to run free with impunity. But Indiana and Ohio State resolved that physicality was the best option. It's not a coincidence that those resulted in Michigan's only losses. It's guaranteed that Wisconsin and Michigan State will adopt a similar philosophy. The Wolverines' next three games are a Crisler rematch against the Buckeyes on Tuesday and trips to Madison, Wis., and East Lansing.

Yes, it's time to grow up. Just because you think you're ready to get paid while likely wallowing at the end of an NBA bench doesn't mean you're physically or emotionally prepared to win a Big Ten championship or advance deeply into the NCAA tournament.

Michigan needs to play more games in which one or two possessions separate the teams in the closing 2 minutes. That's how you learn poise. That's how you prove that you're tough enough.

The Wolverines have had just two games in their first 22 that were within two possessions -- or a maximum of six points -- in the closing 2 minutes. That was against Pittsburgh in the preseason NIT and against the Buckeyes in Columbus last month. They're 1-1 in those games.

Kentucky won the national championship last year with a freshman-sophomore dominant team. The Wildcats had six games last year decided by two possessions or fewer, and they were 5-1 in those games. And they had the top-two players selected in last summer's NBA draft -- Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.

When you're young, you think success comes much easier until somebody a little stronger, a little tougher resists. And then it's up to you how you respond.

"They have to learn that there are other teams out there with the same vision and goals that you have," Beilein said. "You've got to keep working. And it still might not be enough on some nights. That's why losses are sometimes the best thing you can have."

But the problem with college basketball now is that a coach doesn't have as much time to teach that lesson as he did before.